4 types of marketing intermediaries

There are four main types of intermediaries. These are:

1. Agents and brokers

Agents and brokers represent manufacturers and serve their interests when
trying to attract buyers. These intermediaries manage the supply of the physical
product without owning it. For example, real estate agents represent home
sellers as they look to match prospective buyers with houses that are for sale.
These agents don't own the houses they sell but merely represent the sellers
and earn commissions from the sales of the properties. Agents and brokers
exist throughout a product's supply chain, seeking to find and attract
distribution units for manufacturers and producers.

Related: What is a broker? 12 different types of brokerage services

2. Wholesalers and resellers

Wholesalers purchase inventory in bulk straight from the manufacturer and

resell it at a marked-up price, usually to retailers or other merchants. Some
wholesalers choose to specialise in selling a selection of related products.
Others may purchase and resell products across a vast range of markets,
diversifying their inventory and distribution channels. Wholesalers often own
warehouses where they can store large quantities of products and have an
extensive fleet of trucks to transport goods. Manufacturers may prefer to do
business with wholesalers, as they can sell large inventories at once.

Related: A guide to retail vs wholesale: what's the difference?

3. Distributors

Distributors, or functional wholesalers, don't purchase products themselves.

These intermediaries are responsible for transporting goods from the
manufacturer to the retailer or other business locations. Distributors maintain
very close relationships with manufacturers and may carry only one line of
products and focus solely on its promotion and transportation. Distributors may
have warehouses if they carry a large inventory and invest in a fleet of trucks to
transport goods. These intermediaries often ship products directly from the
manufacturer to retail locations or merchants.

Related: What does a supplier do? (With definition, tips and FAQs)
4. Physical and online retailers

Retailers have traditional physical locations, such as supermarkets and corner

shops, and online platforms, such as e-commerce websites. Unless a consumer
purchases a product directly from the manufacturer, they purchase it from a
retailer. Retailers may buy inventory directly from manufacturers or other
intermediaries, such as wholesalers. Recently, many retailers have begun
creating their own lines of goods to compete with more expensive branded
products. For example, you may see that a supermarket's line of bread is
significantly cheaper than the equivalent branded product, as there's less
logistical processing and marketing.

Any company with a website that sells products that it doesn't directly produce
is an online retailer. Many large online retailers also create their own lines of
goods to cut costs and encourage customers to purchase goods with higher
profit margins, despite also selling competitors' products. Therefore, large
online retailers are increasingly acting more as wholesalers of their
manufactured goods than retail intermediaries for other manufacturers.

What is Marketing Communication?

(MarCom)
Marketing communication (MarCom) is the process of combining different
marketing messages and media in order to communicate with the market. If the
promotional campaign is good, then it creates a good response in the audience.
However, marketing communication often deals with the problems of the target
audience like immediate awareness, image, and preferences.